OChem and Princeton Review

[tmg1325]

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Sorry it must feel like I'm all over your forum- after this Sat I swear I'll stop peppering you with questions.

Anyways- have any of you used the Princeton Review Cracking the MCAT book?I grabbed it from the library and I started reading Physics today and then took a crack at the Mastery Applied sections, which seem quite difficult. I tried some Bio questions just based on the knowledge I had from reading the Bio section of the Kaplan MCAT book and they seemed easy enough- is the physics just really hard on there? Because it was quite off putting, since I did well in physics when I took the course and I suppose I expected it to be easier than bio. The Kaplan book doesn't really have as many questions, which was ok for Bio but for Physics I feel like it is a lot easier if I remind myself about how to apply things by looking at problems, especially since I've been exposed to the material before.

Also, as far as organic, if I really don't have time to learn all of it, are there any sections I should take the time to look over? I took the course as a freshman and I was busy with calc and physics so I just passed it without really learning it or developing an intuitive understanding. I remembering g naming and that's about it. But I have the endocrine and nervous system to learn, plus most of physics to either learn or review, so I don't want to bother with Org unless there are certain obvious topics that will be all over everything.

Thanks! I appreciate your help, as well as any last minute tips or recommendation for topics I should hit.

 

[tttgo]

I haven't used that book, but you could try the aamc website for the list of topics. https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/preparing/
Have you taken aamc3 yet? How'd you do? At this point, it's kinda late for content review. Just take aamc 11, spend a few hours looking over it, and relax.

 

[apumic]

Sorry it must feel like I'm all over your forum- after this Sat I swear I'll stop peppering you with questions.

Anyways- have any of you used the Princeton Review Cracking the MCAT book?I grabbed it from the library and I started reading Physics today and then took a crack at the Mastery Applied sections, which seem quite difficult. I tried some Bio questions just based on the knowledge I had from reading the Bio section of the Kaplan MCAT book and they seemed easy enough- is the physics just really hard on there? Because it was quite off putting, since I did well in physics when I took the course and I suppose I expected it to be easier than bio. The Kaplan book doesn't really have as many questions, which was ok for Bio but for Physics I feel like it is a lot easier if I remind myself about how to apply things by looking at problems, especially since I've been exposed to the material before.

Also, as far as organic, if I really don't have time to learn all of it, are there any sections I should take the time to look over? I took the course as a freshman and I was busy with calc and physics so I just passed it without really learning it or developing an intuitive understanding. I remembering g naming and that's about it. But I have the endocrine and nervous system to learn, plus most of physics to either learn or review, so I don't want to bother with Org unless there are certain obvious topics that will be all over everything.

Thanks! I appreciate your help, as well as any last minute tips or recommendation for topics I should hit.

Sounds to me like you're setting yourself up for failure, to be honest.


Edit: Just saw some of your previous posts and it looks like you're taking the MCAT in just a few days. I would strongly suggest taking at least one AAMC and seeing how you score. If you're not breaking 30 on AAMC 3 (the free and easiest of the 8), I'd suggest postponing. At this point, you'd only be out $60 and it'd prevent having to retake and explain what happened later (i.e., in interviews if you got them). It also avoids having to pay for another MCAT. While you had a great GRE, I can tell you from my own experience (having gotten an almost identical score) that the MCAT, while it does have some similarities, is an entirely different kind of beast and I would not suggest assuming a 97th percentile GRE Verbal is going to put you in the running for a 90+th percentile MCAT VR, much less a similar percentile on the BS/PS sections. Despite having eventually worked my way up to a great MCAT VR score, I think my first MCAT VR was around a 9 (i.e., ~60th percentile). I was shocked, dazed, and confused for a bit. If you haven't tried a few actual MCAT practice tests, I'd urge you to do that prior to walking into the testing room come test day.

If you don't score 30+ on an AAMC test, I'd suggest delaying the MCAT and doing as follows:

First, trash the TPR book.

Second, order the Berkeley Review Bio, O-Chem, G-Chem, Physics.

Third, order the EK 101 Verbal book.

Fourth, when they come, study them all the way through. Use SN2ed's schedule as a template. (It's important to rotate through subjects, so each week, have an ochem day, a bio day, a gchem day, a physics day, and a verbal day as well as a day off/break day and either a buffer day if you feel you might need it or you could add in a day for just passage practice or a summary day or whatever.)

Fifth, AFTER completing Section 5 in each book and about 1/2 of the EK passages (i.e., at your halfway point), take a practice full-length exam. Take your next FL after Section 8 of the TBR books and continue to take full-length exams every week until about 1 month prior to your test date. Take 2/week last 4 weeks. That should put you at about 11 FLs. I'd suggest the following:
AAMC 3 (free), 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Berkeley Review I-III. The order I'd suggest would be AAMC 3-5, TBR 1-3, AAMC 8-11

Feel free to tweak that, but that'd be a good, solid plan. You should take a look at SN2ed's schedule for more detail. What I gave you is a general framework. He'd also suggest a few add'l exercises the last month.

I'd suggest setting aside about 3 1/2 months for that plan (10 weeks' review at 1 chapter/wk and 1 verbal/week + 4 weeks of post-content review practice tests). It is absolutely crucial that you carefully and critically review right AND wrong answers and that you redo any incorrect problems.

The average MCAT test taker puts in over 300 hours of studying into the MCAT. Most average to below-average MCAT test takers DO NOT apply to medical school (presumably due to a low score) and the average medical school applicant DOES NOT get into medical school!

Just an FYI, choosing to skip parts of ochem (that are emphasized in a review book) is a pretty good recipe for failure. I'd strongly suggest doing everything the review book tells you to do.